Prosecutor, state senator announce bipartisan effort to reform three-strikes law

LOS ANGELES - Saying the current three-strikes law needs to be
improved, a prosecutor and a state senator Thursday announced a
bipartisan effort to change the law so only the most serious
offenders are given long sentences.

They hope to change the law so that only those who commit a
third serious or violent felony are sentenced to 25 years to
life.

The measure also would allow those currently serving 25 years to
life for a third non-serious or non-violent felony to petition the
sentencing court for reconsideration of their prison terms.

The bill is not an attempt to weaken the three-strikes law,
Cooley said.

"This is a chance to improve it," Cooley said. "By improving it,
we will save it."

Romero, the state senate majority leader, said her bill goes
hand-in-hand with her work in the area of state prison reform.

"We have long been tough on crime, but it's time we became smart
on crime," Romero said.

The state prison system costs taxpayers $8 billion a year,
Romero said. That means less money for senior centers, child care
centers, traffic congestion relief and gang prevention, she
said.

The state spends three times more money incarcerating a
shoplifter than it does on a high school senior trying to graduate
and enter the work force, Romero said.

The influx of inmates means fewer of them get the help they need
to return to the outside world, Romero said.

"There is no room to run vital rehabilitation programs, and
without rehabilitation we continue to see a failure rate of over 70
percent in our prisons Thursday," Romero said. "We can, we must,
get a handle on the population."

Brian Dunn, a criminal law defense attorney from the law firm of
the late Johnnie Cochran, said he supports the bill as a way to
make the three-strikes law more fair.

"I've always said that if you send a man to prison for 25 years
to life, that's tantamount to a death sentence," Dunn said.

According to Romero, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton
and Sheriff Lee Baca also support the bill, but they did not attend
the news conference.

Romero and Cooley said they hope the governor will sign the bill
so it can be placed on the ballot as an initiative in November.

In November 2004, voters rejected Proposition 66, which also
attempted to change the three-strikes law, after Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger came out against the measure saying it would result
in the release of thousands of rapists and murderers statewide.

Cooley also opposed the proposition.

Romero said that unlike Proposition 66, her bill does not
eliminate crimes like burglary of an unoccupied residence from the
list of serious and violent crimes.

Cooley said there also will be a signature-gathering effort in
case the legislative attempt fails.